My Favorite Dairy-Free Alternatives

When I first realized I was lactose intolerant I was pretty devastated. What was I going to do without my true loves, cheese and ice cream?

Luckily things have come a long way since I first started eating dairy-free. There are SO many vegan cheese, ice cream, and milk options out there now. Options that don’t make me miss dairy all that much.

Whether you’re vegan, going dairy-free or just want to cutback on your love of cheese, here are some of my dairy-free alternatives that have made being lactose intolerant suck a little less:

Dairy-Free Alternatives

Best Dairy-Free Milks

I think it’s safe to say that it’s pretty easy to find a fabulous dairy-free milk option in the year 2018. Even Starbucks carries three choices: soy, almond and coconut.

I’m not too picky about my dairy-free milks, TBH. Milk has never really been a staple in my diet so the only time I use the dairy-free kind is in a latte or if I’m making a smoothie.

For lattes I prefer soy or oat milk, I find them to be creamier when frothed. But I’ll also happily drink almond milk.

 

Best Dairy-Free Cheese

•Miyoko’s vegan mozzarella: It melts surprisingly well and is what I used to make the above tortilla pizza

• anything from Kite Hill: I especially love their cream cheese and ravioli

•Nutritional yeast: For a cheesy flavor, nutritional yeast does the trick. It’s the perfect on roasted kale chips.

 

Best Dairy-Free Yogurt

• Kite Hill’s Vanilla Yogurt: Kite Hill’s yogurt is the best vegan yogurt I’ve been able to find as far as ingredients and nutrition stats. I personally love the vanilla flavor. They also have dairy-free Greek yogurt as well.

• Anita’s Coconut Milk Yogurt. I like using the plain Anita’s as stand-in for sour cream. It’s great on a baked potato.

 

Best Dairy-Free Ice Cream:

• Van Leeuwen’s: I adore Van Leeuwen’s vegan ice cream. It’s creamy, delicious and made from real ingredients. I’m not sure how widely available it is elsewhere but in NYC you can get the vegan ice cream at all their ice cream shops and they sell pints at Whole Food’s and other natural food stores.

• Ben & Jerry’s: Yes, Ben & Jerry’s makes a vegan ice cream and it’s pretty good! The new Ben & Jerry’s on St. Mark’s always has two vegan flavors available. You can also buy pints at your local grocery store.

•So Delicious: one of the first vegan ice creams I was able to find. The chocolate chip cookie dough does the trick

 

Best Dairy-Free Pizza:

In NYC the best vegan pizza I’ve had is:

• Two Boots: Two Boots isn’t exclusively a vegan pizzeria, but their V is For Vegan pie is SO good.

• Double Zero: This 100% vegan restaurant serves up SUCH good pizza with decadent nut cheeses.

• I haven’t tried it yet but one of my favorite restaurants Ribalta now has vegan cheese on the menu.

 

 

My Favorite Vegan Restaurants in NYC

I am not vegan, but the glorious thing about vegan restaurants is that I can eat everything because it’s all dairy-free and meat-free. My favorites in NYC are:

• Peacefood Cafe: I order from here at least once a week. The daily soups are great for a quick dinner. I’m also obsessed with their vegan cheesecake.

• byCHLOE. I’ve tried basically everything on the menu here and can report that it’s all excellent. I’m particularly fond of their sweet potato mac and cheese and kale caesar.

• Double Zero

• Bar Verde

• Beyond Sushi: Yes vegan sushi is a thing!!!

• Champ’s Diner

• Sacred Chow: the tapas are perfect for sharing with friends.

• The Cinnamon Snail

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Your Turn: What are your favorite dairy-free alternatives?